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Aviation operations develop the common operating picture (CQP), shield the maneuver force, shape the battlefield, extend the tactical and operational reach of the maneuver commander, and sustain the force. Aviation is critical to the Army's stability and support requirements, to include the homeland security requirements of our nation. Modernization and sustainment of Army aviation ensures these capabilities are maintained.

Aviation Modernization

One of the most compelling arguments for the Army's Aviation Modernization Program is contained in our warfighting contributions to the current Global War on Terrorism. The realities of the current operating environment call for a distributed, non-linear battlefield which leads to an increased reliance on Army Aviation. This results in a disproportionate deployment of Aviation assets and an operational OPTEMPO of more than four times the historical norms which the Army has traditionally used as guidelines and metrics for establishing Life Cycle Management (LCM) coats, programs and aircraft replacement. Combat losses, never considered in our peacetime LCM models, exacerbate Army Aviation's requirement for a robust and accelerated modernization program.

Aviation modernization and recapitalization of existing aviation systems projected to remain in the fleet into the 2015-25 time frame are essential to supporting current as well as future operations. The urgent need to address the steadily deteriorating condition of the aviation fleet and accelerate RC modernization is being addressed through an Aviation transformation plan.

Fielding the AH-64D Longbow Apache is well underway. Recapitalization programs for the CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk begin production in the near term. Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter will replace the OH-58D. Utility Fixed Wing is modernizing its current turboprop fleet (C-12 and RC-12) with the Global Air Traffic Management system (GATM) as well as other safety and cockpit management systems. This will keep these aircraft relevant while the Army procures the Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) to replace legacy C-23 Sherpas. The Army is successfully retiring aging and obsolete aircraft from the force, while incorporating lessons learned from previous and current military operations and deployments are being addressed. The Army is continuing to examine the best means to achieve the vertical envelopment capability required to rapidly project the FCS-equipped forces across difficult or distant geographic locations as lead of a Joint Heavy Lift concept refinement initiative. Future Force requirements for a robust, fully modernized aviation force are continuing to be developed.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (UAVs)

As the Army transforms to a more flexible, responsive and lethal Future Force, Army unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAVS) will also transform to provide integrated, responsive and lethal capabilities to commanders at all echelons from the Current to Future Force. Future commanders will require UAVs with a command and control capability that facilitates the flexible and rapid application of overmatching, decisive land power at specific times and locations throughout a greatly expanded battlespace. On battlefields of the future, UAVS will support all Army echelons, across the spectrum of conflict, on varied terrain and across the Battlefield Operating Systems. Redefining the Army's UAV requirements reflects an evolutionary process to ensure the support required for tomorrow's Army while providing the best support possible to our forces engaged in the Global War on Terrorism.

In OEF and OIF, UAVS such as the Raven, Shadow 200, Hunter, and I-GNAT are providing a new dimension to maneuver forces. The Raven is being provided in theater to OEF and OIF units to enhance small unit reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA). Raven equipping and training for deployed units is conducted in theater. The Shadow 200, the Army's first tactical UAV (TUAV) to go into full-rate production (FRP), is also in use as it continues to be fielded to the military intelligence

(MI) company within the Army's maneuver brigades, including the new Stryker brigades. Planned system improvements include airframe upgrades, refined target location error, and addition of laser designation into the payload gimbel.

The interim Hunter UAV is fielded within three corps aviation exploitation battalions, with one UAV company per corps consisting of six air vehicles and associated payload and ground control stations. The Hunter is a RSTA and battle damage assessment (BDA) asset providing ground forces with near real-time imagery via electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) intelligence at ranges up to 200 km. The Hunter UAV, while being used extensively as an ISR platform, has recently been upgraded to employ the Viper Strike munition in OIF. The Hunter UAV capability will be sustained until an extended-range multi-purpose (ERMP) UAV is fielded at the UE level as a RSTA and command, control, communications and intelligence (C31) system.

Current UAV modernization efforts focus on accelerating Shadow fielding and providing a small UAV like the Raven to meet today's operational needs, accelerating Future Force UAV development and fielding into the Current Force, continuing development of the ER/MP UAVS to replace the Hunter, and science and technology (S&T) efforts that leverage technologies for improved UAV capabilities.

To prepare for the future operational environment, the Army is identifying the latest advances in relevant UAV technology (airframes, payloads, payload management, as well as precision weapons delivery) and integrating these new capabilities into an architecture that is consistent with Army and DOD transformation. Extensive S&T work is also being conducted on vertical takeoff and landing UAV to provide a hover-and- - stare capability. The continued development and fielding of UAVs with advanced payloads is an important component of the Future Force's operational concept.

The Future Force will include an integrated family of UAVs that provide support from the platoon-level to the UE (Figure D-4). The FCS classes of UAVS will be fully integrated elements of the organic ISR capabilities. The FCS Classes I and II UAVs will provide the small-unit commander the capability to see over the next terrain feature from the squad to company level. The FCS Class Ill UAV will enable a variety of combat functions such as precision fires, route reconnaissance and situational development at the battalion level. The FCS Class IV UAV will serve as the UA's ISR workhorse to facilitate situational awareness, battle command, targeting support, lethal engagement, battle damage assessment (BDA) and force protection. The FCS lead system integrator recently selected the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout for development as the Class IV UAV: While the path to the transformed Army of the future will focus on the Future Force, interoperability with fielded current systems will be maintained.

Army aviation modernization will transform into a modular, capabilities-based maneuver arm with a reduced logistics tail optimized for the joint fight. The AC/RC organizations will be structured to meet Strategic Planning Guidance to provide tasked-based formations and improve RC aviation responsiveness to the swiftly defeat the enemy/win decisively strategies.

Discussion of Key Aviation Materiel Proqrams

AH-64 ApacheThe AH-64 Apache is the Army's heavy attack helicopter for the Current and Future Forces. It is assigned to attack battalions and regimental aviation squadrons in both the AC and RC. Apache is a two-pilot, twin-engine attack helicopter designed to meet the Current Force mission requirements for reconnaissance and attack worldwide, day or night and under obscured battlefield and/or adverse weather conditions. It is a highly mobile and lethal aerial weapons platform with an array of armaments to destroy armor, personnel and materiel. The Apache has been in the Army inventory since 1986 and an upgraded AH-64D Longbow began fielding in 1998. The AH-64D upgrades, among other improvements, adds a millimeter wave Fire Control Radar (FCR), Radar Frequency Interferometer (RFI), fire and forget radar guided missile, and cockpit management ad digitization enhancements. The combination of the FCR, RFi and the

The Apache focused recapitalization program integrates a number of related initiatives to produce and/or retrofit aircraft across the Apache fleet to meet the objectives of the Army's recapitalization policy and to address lessons learned from recent combat operations and deployments. This program increases aircraft life by addressing high-maintenance demand/operating and support (O&S) cost drivers and incorporating a second generation forward looking infrared (FLIR) with the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS). The program goals are to reduce the overall average airframe age of the fleet to the half-life metric of 10 years by 2010, increase the unscheduled mean time between removal by 20 percent for selected recapitalized components, and maximize the return on recapped components by 20 percent.

The recapitalization of 597AH-64As to the AH-64D Longbow configuration will be complete in FY10. Multi-year 1 delivered 232 AH-64Ds.through FY02. A second multi-year contract was signed in Oct 01 for an additional 269 AH-64Ds with deliveries through FY06. An additional 96 AH-64A model Apache conversions to the D model Longbow configuration will occur with inductions beginning in Jan 07 and deliveries in FY08 through FY10. Following this conversion, the Apache modernization plan continues in 3QFYIO with the initiation of the Block III Apache Longbow program. The Block III Longbow will provide a net-ready capability that integrates the Apache into the Future Force. Fielding of the M-TADS to the total fleet will begin in FY05.

Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH)As a result of analysis identifying existing capability gaps and subsequent Chief of Staff of Army (CSA) Aviation Focus Group decisions, in Feb 04 the CSA identified the need for 368-armed reconnaissance helicopter (ARH) aircraft. The ARH program was established to correct deficiencies in the OH-58D currently fulfilling the reconnaissance role. The mission of the ARH is to provide a robust reconnaissance and security capability for the joint combined arms air-ground maneuver team. The ARH is a combination of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) airframe integrated with non-developmental mission equipment packages (MEPs). The ARH will be fielded to support the Current Force in the global war on terrorism and will possess the growth potential to bridge the capabilities gaps to the Future Force.

A source selection implementing full and open competition will be the basis for selection of the Army's platform of choice, leading to a Milestone B decision in Jun 05. The System Development and Demonstration (SDD) planned efforts include integration of. non-developmental item (NDI) subsystems onto an existing helicopter platform, developmental/ operational testing and qualification to support the Milestone C low-rate initial production (LRIP) decision. An FRP decision review will be held in FY08.Light Utility Helicopter (LUH)The LUH will conduct light utility missions in support of specified Army tasks. The specified Army tasks will be conducted as part of an integrated effort with other Services, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and civil organizations.

These missions include homeland security support operations, general support operations, generating force medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) operations, and support for Army training centers and test activities. The LUH will replace the UH-1 and OH-58A/C aircraft. Additionally, introduction of this aircraft will return a number of UH-60s back to the warfighting force. The LUH will be a COTS aircraft that is less costly to procure and operate than the UH-60. It is being procured as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified aircraft with training and maintenance activities shared between the manufacturer and the military. The LUH will primarily support the CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. possessions and territories, as well as Europe; however, it is worldwide deployable to non-combat environments, will be instrument flight rule (IFR) capable, and will operate in all geographical environments and conditions. The aircraft will be found in both active and Army National Guard (ARNG) units.

The LUH program is currently staffing the Capability Development Document (CDD) for Joint Requirements Oversight Counsel (JROC) approval. The Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) was JROC-approved in Dec 04. The LUH program is scheduled for Milestone C decision in Sep 05.

UH-60 Black HawkThe UH-60 is the Army's Current and Future Force utility and medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) helicopter. The UH-60 fleet is composed of 960 UH-60As, which began production in 1977, and just over 600 UH-60Ls, which began production in 1989. Black Hawk can transport 11 fully equipped combat troops and external loads up to 8,000 pounds for the UH-60A and 9,000 pounds for the UH-60L. The UH-60 provides the force commander rapid and agile maneuver through air assault, general support, airborne C2 and MEDEVAC. It gives commanders the ability to initiate, conduct and sustain combat operations by providing internal and/or external lift of troops, weapon systems, supplies and equipment. In the airborne C2 role, it provides full joint and combined interoperability with other C4 and 1SR elements to commanders at all echelons. The UH-60 is also heavily utilized in disaster relief operations, fire suppression, personnel recovery and VIP transport. The UH-60 is vital to the homeland security needs of our nation. The Army will procure new UH-60M/HH-60M (MEDEVAC variant) in order to extend the fleet's lift/range capabilities, reduce O&S.costs, improve transportability, enhance survivability, improve strategic transportability, integrate Air Warrior, digitize avionics and flight management systems that incorporate Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) requirements, and extend aircraft life. The UH-60M/HH-60M is expected to meet utility and MEDEVAC mission requirements through 2025.

The UH-60M and HH-60M programs are currently in the SDD phase. The Milestone C decision is scheduled for the 2QFY05 with first unit equipped (FUE) in FY08. Initial fielding is scheduled to the special operations and AC divisions.CH-47 ChinookThe CH-47 Chinook is a twin turbine, tandem-rotor, heavy-lift transport helicopter with a useful load of up to 25,000 pounds. As the Army's only heavy lift helicopter, its mission is to transport troops (including air assault), supplies, weapons and other cargo in general support operations. The CH-47 is vital to the homeland security needs of our nation. Secondary missions include medical evacuation, aircraft recovery, parachute

drops, disaster relief, and search and rescue. These aircraft are fielded to heavy helicopter companies and special operations aviation. The CH-47F is expected to remain the Army's heavy lift helicopter until at least the 2020-25 time frame. The CH-47 recapitalization program will provide a more reliable, less costly to operate aircraft compatible with Army digital connectivity requirements with an extended aircraft life of approximately 20 years.

Key modifications integrate an upgraded T55-GA-714A engine to restore performance capability, digital avionics, Air Warrior, emerging GATM requirements, enhanced air transportability, and an Extended Range Fuel System II (ERFS II) for self-deployment missions. It will also incorporate reliability and maintainability improvements to include airframe tuning for vibration reduction, corrosion protection, and a digital source collector. Currently, there are 458 CH-47s in the inventory (421 CH-47s, 37 MH-47s). The recapitalization program rebuilds and upgrades all CH-47Ds and 61 special operations aviation MH-47s to the CH-47F/MH-47G configuration. In addition to recapitalization, a new build program will add new Chinooks to the inventory starting in FY06. These programs are funded to meet the Army's Aviation Transformation full requirement for Chinook aircraft. The CH-47F program received FRP approval on 22 Nov 04. Initial fielding is to the 160th SOAR (MH-47G) and the 101st AA Division (CH-47F).

Fixed-WingThe Army fixed-wing program is composed of approximately 300 aircraft. Fixed-wing aircraft provide efficient, effective transportation during peacetime and wartime operations. Fixed-wing aircraft provide for rapid movement of personnel, critical mission equipment/supplies and special electronic mission aircraft (SEMA) intelligence support. SEMA collect, analyze and disseminate signal communications and imagery intelligence in support of wartime requirements for combatant commanders, field commanders and national intelligence assets. Fixed-wing aircraft are routinely utilized in disaster relief operations, air movement of personnel and critical supplies, civil support, counter-drug, security assistance and homeland security missions. The Army modernization plan calls for FCA to replace aging C-23 aircraft within the POM and potentially to replace the C-12 in the EPP. FCA provides the Army with a self-deployable, 2,400-km cargo aircraft with an 18,000-poundpayload capability that performs short takeoffs and landings. FCA will be the predominant Army fixed-wing aircraft with 128 airframes. The Army is expected to procure 33 FCA (FY06-11) to rapidly move personnel and critical supplies across the battlefield.

The Army is currently reviewing its fixed-wing requirements for the Future Force. The cornerstone of this review was the Jan 05 approval of the FCA ICD. The Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) is being developed as the replacement for the SEMA RC-12 and RC-7 aircraft. The ACS airframe selection was completed in the spring of FY04 with four aircraft scheduled for fielding in FY09.

(RF) for autonomous guidance. AH-64 Apache, ARH and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior utilize HF as their primary air-to-ground weapon for destruction of high-value point targets. The complementary precision point target engagement capability of the SAL HF and the fireand-forget, adverse-weather capability of the RF HF provide the commander withflexibility across a wide range of mission scenarios, permitting fast and decisive battle-field response. The Army will procure approximately 2,000 SAL HF for delivery in FY07 and FY08.

Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)APKWS incorporates laser guidance into the 2.75" Hydra-70 rocket to provide a lower-cost, lighter-weight precision weapon capable of engaging non-armored to lightly armored targets and providing an alternative to HF against targets such as buildings, command posts, ADA sites and other targets not requiring the HF. The APKWS program provides accuracy and lethality improvements to the family of unguided rockets. The AH-64, OH-58D, and ARH will use APKWS to significantly improve aircraft stowed kill capability in scenarios requiring area/suppressive fires or precision engagement against non-armored or lightly armored targets. APKWS is currently in development as a Program of Record.

Discussion of Aviation Supporting Materiel Programs

Aviation's supporting programs are essential to the support, sustainment and modernization/ recapitalization of the aircraft programs discussed previously. These programs are essential to sustain and protect crews/aircraft, maintain interoperability with supported organizations, and field Future Force capabilities.

Aircraft Survivability Equipment (ASE)The Suite of Integrated Infrared Countermeasures (SIIRCM) will provide an enhanced infrared countermeasure capability to aviation platforms. An advanced missile warning device with an improved countermeasure dispenser system and advanced flare munitions has been tested and is being installed onto selected platforms. Additionally, developmental efforts continue and will culminate with the acquisition of a multi-band, solid-state laser jam head capable of defeating all known infrared threats. Aircraft undergoing recapitalization will have the required supporting wiring and hardware installed for the SIIRCM devices. The Army's RF-guided missile protection program was reinstated in the FY06-11 program plan and will employ the same acquisition strategy as the infrared program. The Army has also accelerated the fielding of critical equipment to enhance the Special Operations Forces (SOF) aircraft by equipping them with SIIRCM and the Army Suite of Integrated Radio Frequency Countermeasures (SIRFC). The Army believes that SOF modernization is among its highest equipping priorities, recognizing the critical role SOF plays on the joint team.Aviation Electronics (Avionics)Avionics programs are designed to ensure aviation platforms meet combined arms and joint requirements for C2, mission planning, communications, navigation (to include worldwide civil airspace), information interchange and interoperability. Major avionics initiatives include: fielding of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) in modernized aviation platforms which will provide enhanced situational awareness, high-speed data

and video exchange, and improvements in interoperability; migration of the Aviation Mission Planning Systems (AMPS) to a Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS) which will provide significant increases in mission planning capabilities including a mission rehearsal capability; new versions of Improved Data Modem (IDM) as the centerpiece to digitization; Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment for improved weapons accuracy; and Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) equipment mandated when flying in civil airspace.

Aircrew Integrated Systems (ACIS)The ACTS program develops and fields equipment required to protect, sustain and enhance aircrew performance in sustained operations, on the ground, and during survival-evasion operations. Air Warrior is the primary ACIS program that provides integrated, modular life support equipment and chemical/biological protection, reduced weight/bulk, and significantly improved flight time in MOPP 4 gear.

Air Traffic Services/Air Traffic Control (ATS/ATC)ATS organizations must be specially equipped, highly trained, rapidly deployable on short notice, and capable of operating within the United States, international and combat airspace systems. They provide the full range of air traffic services from homeland security to major combat operations. Army ATS remains the core enabler for Army airspace C2, ensuring. synchronized access of the increasingly congested joint airspace. ATS/ATC modernization fields smaller, lighter, more efficient, digitally connected terminal and en route communications and precision navigation systems for tactical and fixed base operations. Major programs include the Tactical Airspace Integration System (TATS), the Air Traffic Navigation, Integration, and Coordination System (ATNAVICS), Mobile Tower System (MOTS), Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS), and Global Air Traffic Management (GATM). JPALS and GATM are mandated by civilian air control authorities and joint Services to operate within 21st century airspace.

Aviation Ground Support Equipment (AGSE)To support and sustain full spectrum operations, aviation logistics must be as responsive and capable as the force it supports. To improve responsiveness, reduce vulnerability, and increase operational momentum, aviation must reduce the current in-theater aviation logistics footprint and digitize its logistics systems. The goal of AGSE modernization is to reduce logistical support requirements and improve aircraft operational readiness. Initiatives focus on improved automation and efficiency in three areas of development: modernization of test, measurement, and diagnostics equipment (TMDE); integration of seamless logistics management through automation systems; and replacement of aging ground support equipment.

Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations (TADSS)TADSS modernization is critical to the combat effectiveness of our aircrews and maintainers, and in reducing operational costs. Aviation TADSS will leverage technology to provide effective and affordable combined arms/joint training and mission planning and rehearsal simulators that are current with the aircraft/systems they replicate. Simulator concurrency, fidelity, and combined arms tactical and mission rehearsal simulators/simulations that network virtual, constructive and live simulation systems are major initiatives.Summary

Army aviation's modernization efforts are focused on fixing warfighting deficiencies, particularly those uncovered during recent operations, aligning the aviation force with the Army's Future Force concept, and fielding aircraft/subsystems required to achieve full-spectrum operational capability. Aviation modernization is being achieved through force structure changes, training initiatives, and materiel modernization (AH-64D, UH-60M/HH-60M, ARH, LUH, FCA, Apache Block II, CH-47F, UAVS, Air Warrior and other subsystem programs). Aviation is supported by S&T programs designed to provide the technology base required to upgrade existing aircraft and meet the challenges of new aircraft/weapon system developments. The Army's commitment to divesting currently obsolete aircraft and ensuring balanced modernization across both AC and RC is being realized. The Army continues to review near-term aviation funding issues to best align programs, create more executable strategies and identify acceptable risks that allow tailoring of program requirements.

GUWAHATI, March 26: Close on the heels of the recovery of a letter written by a jailed ULFA cadre from a slain militant on March 14, Dhubri Police recovered a similar letter from the possession of an arrested militant of the proscribed outfit a couple of days back, which has exposed a thriving communication network between the militant detainees and their comrades outside. This has prompted Dhubri Superintendent of Police PK Dutta to move the State Government and the IGP (Prisons) to conduct a high-level inquiry to find out if there is any nexus among jailed ULFA cadres, jail staff and other jail inmates behind the exchange of letters from inside the prison premises.

Sources said that Magistrate I Hussain, who is in charge of Dhubri jail, had admitted that the jail authorities had earlier intercepted as many as five letters written by ULFA detainees from jail to their comrades. Interestingly enough, Hussain did not inform the matter to the district police when it first came to light, the sources alleged.

It may be mentioned here that Dhubri Police had recovered a letter written by Pratul Sarma alias Rinku, who is lodged in Dhubri jail, from Hiten Thakuria, who was killed in an encounter on March 14. The Dhubri SP followed the leads and interrogated Sarma who reportedly confessed that he was operating the network which had been masterminded by another jailed cadre, Bahadur Islam. Sources said that Sarma had reportedly disclosed the involvement of Aliar Ali, who is serving a life term in Dhubri jail, as a courier. Ali does not belong to any militant outfit.

But what has raised serious concern in the matter is the recovery of another letter written from jail from the possession of Rajesh Barman who was apprehended in Bilasipara by Dhubri Police on Thursday.

Dutta told The Sentinel today that he had already informed the district administration about these developments in Dhubri district. "I shall send a letter to the State Government and the IGP (Prisons) to conduct a high-level probe," the Dhubri SP said, adding that the draft of the letter is ready. An inquiry is necessary as some jail officials may also be in nexus with the ULFA activists in transporting these letters, Dutta said.

It may be mentioned here that when Dutta was posted in the city, he had unearthed a similar modus operandi of jailed ULFA vice chairman Pradip Gogoi. He produced incriminating documents proving that the ULFA vice chairman was regularly communicating with cadres outside the jail and carrying out militant activities from inside the jail premises. This forced the State Government to shift Gogoi to Silchar jail, but the ULFA leader was later brought back to the city on medical grounds and has been lodged in Guwahati jail since.

It is an open secret that a section of the prison staff in the State accord 'special treatment' to top ULFA detainees which may be a spur for such activities. Sources said that this soft stand on the part of the jail authorities warranted proper investigation as it might bring to light similar activities in other jails of the State where militant leaders are lodged. The State Government must institute an inquiry covering all jails in the State for such anomalous activities, they added

This report is made by US State Department on RELIGIOUS FREEDOM in India,interstingly it shows how actively their regional Consulates in India are actively engaded to help even repealing controversial Anti-Conversion Laws in particular state-

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35516.htm The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Governmentin the context of its overall policy to promote human rights. The U.S. Embassy continued to promote religious freedom through contact with the country's senior leadership, as well as with state and local officials.

The U.S. Embassy and Consulates regularly meet with religious leaders and reporton events and trends that affect religious freedom.

During the period covered by this report, Embassy and Consulate officials met with important leaders of all of the significant minority communities. For example, the Calcutta Principal Officer met a section of church leaders in Orissa, including the President of the All India Christian Council, Orissa Chapter on April 1 to discuss reports of ongoing harassment of converts and missionaries. The Consulate in Calcutta continued to conduct Iftar and Madrassa exchange programs. Embassy officials also continued an active program of outreach and engagement with leaders of the country's Muslim communities.

The NGO and missionary communities in the country are extremely active on questions of religious freedom, and mission officers meet with local NGOs regularly.

The Ambassador and other senior U.S. officials publicly expressed regret over the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002, extended condolences to the victims, and urged all parties to resolve their difference peacefully. In addition the U.S. Agency for International Development office provided funding for an NGO program designed to assist internally displaced persons in Gujarat.

U.S. officials from the Consulate General in Mumbai traveled to Ahmedabad within days of the start of the violence in Gujarat, to meet with officials and private citizens about the violence and continued to have meetings during the period covered by this report. Consulate officers also met in Mumbai with a range of NGO, business, media, and s, including Muslim leaders, to monitor the aftermath of the violence in Gujarat.

Officials from the Consulate in Chennai were active in assisting missionary Joseph Cooper following the attack on him by Hindu extremists in 2003. The Consulate in Chennai also organized a roundtable on June 23, 2003, to promote better understanding between the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist communities. The Chennai Consulate also continued to reach out to the Muslim community through Iftar parties and the International Visitor/Madrassa programs.

Finally, U.S. officials have continued to engage state officials on the implementation and reversal of anti-conversion laws. Released on September 15, 2004---------------

In the following article, Angana Chatterji claims to have beeninstrumental in getting Modi's US visa cancelled:http://www.iht.com/getina/files/234257.html Title: How we made U.Sdeny visa to Modi The Asian Age India | Angana Chatterji

The fact that Angana Chatterji is an anti-war protestor, has notprevented the US Conculate from inviting her to lead the round-tableheld in Chennai in June 2003 (organized by US Consulate).

What could be the reason for promoting a naxal like Angana Chatterjiwho is also an associate professor of anthropology?

The reasons are not far to seek. She promotes the foundation agenda ofthe fringe which runs the US government: promotion of proselytizationactivities world-wide and in Hindustan, in particular.

Vigil had participated in this round-tablehttp://www.vigilonline.com/news/plain_speak/ps_view.asp?plainSpeakId=65

In this meet, Ms.Joanella Morales, rep. of US State Department said:"We are not interfering. Your own people have written and spoken tous, asking us to do something about the state of religious freedom inthis country. And we have grave concerns about the anti-conversion lawbecause the law has scope for abuse and we were told it was abused."

The intervention of US Government is no longer hidden. It is an openagenda. The fact that no one from the christist groups was present inthe meet conveys a lot of meaning and substance to the round-table.When Uncle Sam has taken upon himself the job, what is the need forchristist presence in round-table meets? How subtle can one get inconveying the state department's message loud and clear?

Cancellation of Narendra Modi's visa is not an isolated event. Therewill be many more who are on the US visa hit list and will getdeported from US airports even if they have valid visas. The enemy hasbeen identified by US State Dept.: anyone who opposes proselytization.

Vasundhara Raje ji, watch out; you may have visitors from US embassysince your government has just enacted the anti-conversion law.

March 25, 2005

Check this out. IE today took special pains to say that SKH is much better than Amitabh Bacchan. The point is not about questioning the opinion of the author but why was it made a special subject.

Readers here needs to go through the entire article. Readers here needs to know that 99% of the people who cared to post their comments in IE when the article first appeared actually blasted SKH. So, this article came out in retaliation against reader's comments. After reading this article, more readers posted comments again on the article, which can be viewed at the bottom of the page. Now, if this is not anti-Hindu and mullah PR exercise, then what is it? This is pseudo-secularism at it's worst.

[U.S. News] Washington, March 25 : Some former senior State Department officials believe the decision to deny Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a visa was unwise and has thrown up complicated questions for future US foreign policy.

Despite the crimes that took place in Gujarat, they contend, using the International Religious Freedom Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act at this juncture with India has set a precedent that the State Department will find hard to live by.

"I wouldn't have denied him the visa," Ambassador Dennis Kux told IANS. Kux is a senior policy scholar in the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars and a retired Foreign Service South Asia specialist.

"I can understand the reasons for doing it but I would have waited for court action (in India)," Kux said referring to Modi being denied a visa for "serious violation of religious freedom" for the Gujarat communal violence of 2002.

"There are a lot of interest groups that demand a lot of things and this group had good credentials. And the whole thing was pretty shameful in Gujarat. But it is for the courts," he emphasised.

During his 39-year foreign service career, he served three tours in India and Pakistan and was country director for India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the State Department.

Policymakers and observers say regardless of the realpolitik involved in the situation, or whether Washington did the right thing, behind all the quibbling and hair-splitting is a great human tragedy - the faces of more than 2,000 people killed, brutalised, each with a horrific recounting and a family suffering excruciating pain, a pain that Modi was in a position to ameliorate.

But the State Department interpreting US law right ahead of Modi's visit has led some to speculate that it may not have been a well-thought out act.

Having set a precedent now, is the State Department going to move in the future to keep out several others that in the past have been associated with "severe" religious persecution, for instance those political leaders named during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi, or those implicated in acts against Chechnyans in Russia, or even Beijing's Communist Party members that have moved against the Falun Gong sect or Christians in China, not to forget those who persecuted the Kashmiri Pandits?

Modi's visa was denied under the International Religious Freedom Act. Passed in 1998 and strengthened in 2004 by the Intelligence Reform Act, it gives the president authority to delay, deny or cancel visits by a foreign citizen who "while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom".

"It is an issue fraught with dilemmas. It has opened up something of a pandora's box for the US," said Walter Andersen, former State Department official, now associate director of the South Asian Studies department at the Johns Hopkins University.

Doubting that it will be regarded as a small matter by either New Delhi or Washington, he said, "But in some ways, it does turn out to be a blunder as some people have maintained," Andersen said.

"It makes Modi a martyr, it sweeps his own political problems under the rug, it makes it look like an assault on Gujarat which is what he had been touting earlier, and it also brings out a lot of anti-US feelings in the right wing of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)."

Foreign policy buffs also brush aside the view that the Bush administration set up Modi as an example for showing it was not rabidly anti-Islamic.

"I doubt Washington sees this as a way to win favour with the Islamic world," Andersen contended. "I doubt it was the objective because I have not seen the kind of resonance coming from that part of the globe, not just now, but even during the rioting in 2002 in India, there wasn't that much reporting in the Islamic world other than in Pakistan."

U.S. To Sell F-16 Fighters to Pakistan By P. PARAMESWARAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The United States on March 25 announced plans to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, despite objections from Islamabad’s nuclear rival India.

The sale was part of a new strategic approach to the troubled subcontinent that was presented to both countries by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her visit there earlier this month, a senior U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

President George W. Bush telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 25 to inform him of the decision, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Singh expressed to Bush his “great disappointment,” saying it could have “negative consequences” for India’s security, according to the Indian leader’s spokesman, Sanjaya Baru.

But the U.S. official said “we don’t see any impact on the relevant military balances in the region.”

The sale was to make Pakistan more secure, the official said. “It’s in the interest of India, Pakistan and the United States that Pakistan feels secure.”

Pakistan, which has become a major ally of the United States in its war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, said it would buy the latest version of the F-16.

“We welcome this good gesture and it shows good friendship between Pakistan and the United States,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told Agence France-Presse in Islamabad.

The U.S. official said that although the number of F-16’s offered to Pakistan would be “relatively small, there is no set limit on what the United States is going to be willing to sell.”

U.S. officials said Congress was notified March 25 of the sale to Pakistan, which already has such combat aircraft.

Islamabad reportedly wants to buy as many as 25 additional units. It has been seeking additional multi-role fighter jets since 1990 when a deal for 40 such planes fell through because of U.S. concerns about the country’s nuclear program.

But relations between the United States and Pakistan warmed up after Islamabad helped the Americans topple the hard-line Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001.

Bush explained to Singh on March 25 that “his decision to move forward on the sale of F-16s to Pakistan, as well as responding to India’s request for information on the provision of multi-role combat aircraft for India,” Perino said.

India is considering buying combat aircraft “on a scale very large” and the United States was ready to boost defense cooperation with India, including the sale of F-16s, F-18s or other aircraft, the anonymous U.S. official said.

It is believed India was eyeing a variety of aircraft, including Lockheed Martin’s F-16s, France’s Dassault Aviation’s Mirage jet fighters, Swedish-made Gripen fighters and the Russian MiG range, made by Mikoyan-Gurevich.

Bush, who was spending the week on his ranch near Crawford, Texas, also discussed with Singh U.S.-Indian relations more broadly, including “the next steps in enhancing our expanding strategic partnership,” the White House said.

Washington is willing to work with New Delhi in other ways, including defense co-production and technology licensing, and covering areas such as command and control, early warning systems and missile defense, according to the U.S. official.

“Pakistan has been a valuable ally in the war against terrorism, as has India, and I strongly support U.S. arms sales that contribute to that effort,” Democratic Representative Tom Lantos said.

“If the reports are correct, I would support the concurrent sale of F-16 aircraft to both countries, which should not undermine stability in the region.”

India says however that arming Pakistan with the sophisticated warplanes would upset the military balance in the region and cast a shadow over the slow dialogue process under way between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Relations between the South Asian rivals have warmed since the peace process was launched in January last year, with both sides making a series of matching moves to boost communication links and people-to-people contacts.

The most visible sign of improvement in the relationship is their agreement last month to restart a bus service linking the two zones of Kashmir that each country occupies.

The thorny issue of divided Kashmir caused two of the three wars between India and Pakistan and brought them close to a fourth war in 2002.

Two recent incidents point towards spiralling Islamic aggressiveness in the country. The first is Uttar Pradesh Sunni Wakf board's claiming proprietorship of Taj Mahal. The other is SIMI threat e-mail to iconic Yoga-Guru Swami Ramdev. However, the best thing about these is that they expose the public face of "secularism".

In the first incident, two rival sects of Muslims have staked ownership of the Taj Mahal. The UP Sunni Wakf board has demanded that the ownership of Taj Mahal be transferred to it by Archaeological Survey of India by April 9. The claim is based on the premise that the Taj, being a grave, is Wakf property. Muslims also tender Friday namaz at the Taj Mahal. A section of Shias led by Khursi Agha of Lucknow is prodding the Shia Wafk board to stake a similar claim on Taj Mahal since Mumtaz Mahal herself was a Shia and so was the principle architect Isha Khan Shirazi from Iran. Let us see how a communal or sectarian claim of Taj Mahal can really upset India's "secular" facade.

The Taj is a poster site for Indian tourism like the Great Pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower in France, and Statue of Liberty in the US. Noted Indo-Anglian writer Amit Chaudhuri wrote: "Social scientist Partha Chatterjee is puzzled and engrossed by what has happened to these 'national images' - for instance, the Taj Mahal; Shah Jahan's Red Fort - as they have been represented in our textbooks in the last 40 or 50 years: That is, in our relatively brief, but palpably long, history as a republic. Prof Chatterjee discovers that early photographs and engravings found in textbooks dating back, say, to the Twenties, are gradually replaced in textbooks after 1947 by a certain kind of line drawing. He finds no economic raison d'etre for this change: 'Are they cheaper to print? Not really; both are printed from zinc blocks made by the same photographic process.'

"But the more telling change occurs in the nature of the representations themselves, as the pictures of certain monuments are transformed into 'national icons'. As these monuments are turned into 'national icons' in post-Independence history textbooks, the pictures are emptied of signs of randomness, emptied, indeed, of all but the monument itself, and a new credo and economy of representation comes into existence" (The Casual Moment-The mysterious indefinable quality of poetry, The Telegraph, Calcutta, February 13).

Taj Mahal is a mausoleum. As far as I am aware, Islam forbids erecting mausoleums over graves. Yet Muslim kings built mausoleums for their loved ones and sometimes for themselves in advance. But most Muslim kings in India also enjoyed wine, took more than four wives, patronised musicians and painters. They sometimes opened their purse strings to dargah (shrine) or mazaar (grave) of Sufi saints. But actually, all these are un-Islamic practices, howsoever humane they might appear to non-Muslims. Non-Muslim often romanticise Islam though these essentially un-Islamic customs. But Sunni clerics, who drive Islam, abhor them.

We idolise, no doubt mistakenly, Emperor Akbar for his religious syncretism of Deen-e-Ilahi (which was nothing but promoting Islam through the backdoor). But when Akbar died in 1605, the ulema refused to recite the kalima on his body, declaring him an apostate equivalent. Even Muslim scholars of our era like late Ali Mian (Syed Abu-ul-Hasan Ali Nadwi) held similar opinion about Akbar. Muslim scholars clearly feel that the Sunni empire established by Babar, got strayed in Akbar's gesture of tolerance, Jahangir's indulgences in wine and women, Shahjahan's romanticisations - and it was not until a puritan Aurangzeb that the original pursuit could be revived - albeit unsuccessfully.

Though mausoleums violate Islamic principles, Sunni scholars tolerate them, and don't prescribe their destruction. After all, it will be no good to demolish these souvenirs of Islamic era. However, they don't compromise on Islam by idolising them. So why are these learned clerics asking for the Taj so passionately?

Taking over the Taj would signify a great symbolic victory for Islamists. It would undermine the authority of the Central Government. With Taj taken, the next target would be the Red Fort in Delhi and then the one in Agra. For, these were once the seats of the Mughal empire - atop which fluttered the green banner of Islam. The Mughal empire was the standard bearer of Islam in India.

Shah Abdul Aziz (1746-1823), son of the architect of the Wahabi movement in India, Shah Wali Ullah, on perceiving the decline of the Mughal empire, proclaimed in 1810 that India had ceased to be Dar-ul-Islam (House of Islam) and had become, instead, Dar-ul-Harb (House of War). If the Sunni Wakf Board is successful in taking over the Taj, its moral claim on Delhi's Red Fort and the Agra Fort will be emboldened. As a prelude to the take over, Muslims would start congregating in Pearl Mosque (Moti Masjid) inside Delhi's Red Fort as they did at Taj Mahal.

The Wakf claim can be theoretically extrapolated. If the seat of erstwhile Mughal power should come under Wakf's jurisdiction, why not entire India, most of which was Dar-ul-Islam for six centuries? Remember how Hamas justified its call for "destruction of Israel" by saying that the entire land of Palestine was Wakf property belonging to Allah?

In the second incident Swami Ramdev, the iconic yoga-guru of Aastha channel, has received a threat from banned SIMI (Students Islamic Militia of India) through an e-mail. He has been forbidden to teach yoga to Muslims. He has been warned of major "collateral damages" in his dream-project, Patanjali Yoga Kendra in Hardwar.

Now, Swami Ramdev, of modern gurus, teaches religion the least. He gives no pravachan from the Gita, Upanishad, Puranas or Ramayana. He teaches breathing techniques and some asanas (physical postures) that eliminate physical, mental and moral maladies and promote general well-being. These, according to him, can provide almost miracle-cures to many diseases pronounced incurable. And many practitioners have actually experienced such "healing miracles" after pursuing his simple techniques. They have gladly come forward with their medical records in support of their claim. Aastha channel claims a viewership of over 20 million people. Most of those who had taken advantage of Swami Ramdev's yoga had done so over the television rather than in his yoga camp. SIMI can prevent Aastha channel from reaching Muslim viewers only by preventing cable TV from reaching them.

All of us, regardless of our religion, breathe the same oxygen. Will Muslims cease to be Muslims if they breathe it correctly through Pranayam? I will not become a Muslim by sitting in the posture of namaz, nor a Christian by doing the Alexander method of posture correction, or start speaking Chinese by doing Falun Gong exercises? So isn't there something suspicious about SIMI's fear?

Homeopathy was developed in Germany by Samuel Heinemann. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was perhaps the first Indian to be treated in this method by German doctors who visited him. But he lived and died as a "Hindoo King". No one ever became a Christian after being treated with his wonderful system of homeopathy medicine. Muslims of Pakistan have no hitch in coming to India for delicate surgeries and transplants performed by "kafir" doctors of India. But SIMI sees a problem if a Muslim is healed of his diabetes, heart disease, obesity, skin diseases, and tension through pranayam and asana. What SIMI actually fears is Hindu resurgence through yoga, which is likely to cure the hypocrisy called "secularism" in the Indian mind. The Hindu civilisation might suddenly come across "self-realisation", something Islamists don't want. But their design of Islamisation of India will be foiled again.

(The writer, a Rajya Sabha MP and Convenor of BJP's Think Tank, can be contacted at bpunj@email.com)

March 24, 2005

Modi issue: Yudhistra is still relevantAuthor: S Gurumurthy Publication: The New Indian Express Date: March 21, 2005

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been denied visa by the Bush administration. He had been invited by the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association. Had the US permitted his visit, it would have gone unnoticed.

The US could have quietly allowed Modi to spend a few days in a more tolerable climate. Instead it chose to deny diplomatic visa to Modi.

They even cancelled the normal visa, which had already been granted to Modi some seven years ago. They did it so resoundingly that it hardly seemed a simple visa denial. Why?

To know the truth we have to go behind the facade of religious freedom issues the US has raised. The US supports and takes the support of jihadi regimes the world over. So the issue of religious freedom as the reason to keep Modi out is a lie.

Obviously, the Bush administration has used the Modi visa issue to convey a message to global Islamists. The geo-political think tanks of the US thought, thanks to Modi, that they got a chance to tell the Islamic world how even-handed they are. Look at it from the US perspective.

They are engaged in a war with Islam itself, not just Islamic terrorism. They are under pressure to show that they are not against Islam or Muslims. Here they got a golden opportunity to humiliate Modi-who is projected as anti-Muslim-to demonstrate that they are friends of Islam too.

“See how we are treating an elected Chief Minister of a State of India whose population is more than the population of many nations in Europe.”

“Believe us, we are sensitive to Islamic world” – this is their message to the Islamists. This is the American version of pseudo-secularism. So denial of visa to Modi is part of American geo-politics. That is why they wanted it done, and they did, in the most celebrated way, dragged it till the last moment and made it an issue.

But why did the US choose to risk a scrap with the Indian Government? This is perhaps where they miscalculated. They never expected the split Indian polity to come together on the issue. They never anticipated the ‘secular’ Indian Government to join the protest, much less lead it.

They did not provide for the unified Indian reaction, with the state of India leading the protest, against the US action. They had enough reasons to believe it will not happen. The secular Indian polity had made Modi a symbol of hate. It suited secular India’s political needs to blacken Modi. So he became the Indian version of Hitler, the Hindu version of Islamic terror.

So the US was perhaps right in expecting that the Hindu polity in India would be isolated, that there would be a ‘Secular’-Hindu clash in India on the issue. But that did not happen, even accounting for the marginally different views of the CPM and the RJD.

So, by standing together, the Indian polity has stood up to an attempt to humiliate India. It has surprised the US. Indian polity has demonstrated total unity on this issue, something which we have seen only in times of war. So the US is in a fix. It cannot hang on to its decision without causing a setback in its relations with India. It cannot change it without a setback to its geo-political message to the Islamic world.

As of now, the US is the loser and Modi the gainer. In the process, the US has put Modi on the global map.

But look at the impact of the Modi visa issue on the Indian polity and its working norms. For the first time the Indian polity has followed the dictum of Yudhistra in Mahabharata. The story goes that the Gandharvas defeated the Kauravas and arrested Duryodana and all his 99 brothers who had planned to humiliate the Pandavas living in the forest. Bhima and Arjuna were extremely pleased at Kauravas’ humiliation.

But Yudhistra chided them and told them, ‘vayam panchadikam shatam’ – meaning, when difficulty comes, we are not five and they are not hundred, but “we are five plus hundred” – and asked them to get the Kauravas released. This was despite all the harm that Kauravas had caused to the Pandavas.

One might dismiss his as the ethical norm of Dwapara Yuga inapplicable to the dark age of Kali Yuga. But one great man, who inspired many leaders of India like Vajpayee, Advani and even Modi, dared to give the same advice to Indian polity.

He was M S Golwalkar, the man who built the RSS into a powerful organisation. A well-known Indian political leader, who was on a visit to the UK, chose to criticise the then Indian prime minister Pandit Nehru on foreign soil. It was common knowledge that Nehru had visceral hatred for the RSS and Golwalkar.

Yet Golwalkar quoted Yudhistra and said that outside our nation, despite all our differences, “we are all one” and condemned the criticism of our prime minister outside India. He cited how Winston Churchill owned the British Prime Minister Atlee as ‘our Prime Minister’ on US soil despite their well-known mutual hostility. This is how national spirit works beyond borders.

The moral is: Yudhistra is relevant even in today’s global politics. It is difficult to follow great men. But it is even more difficult to ignore them. The Indian polity can be proud today for acting as counselled by Yudhistra.

In an unprecedented move, the US Administration has denied Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi an entry on its soil. A US Embassy spokesman said: "We can confirm that the Gujarat Chief Minister applied for but was denied the diplomatic visa under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act because he was not coming for the purpose that qualified for diplomatic visa." His tourist/business visa was revoked under Section 212(a)(G) of the Act that makes any Government officials, who are held responsible for the severe violation of religious freedom, ineligible for visa.

Though the real intention of the State Department is not clear, there has been united opposition from the Indians on the issue. Regardless of political differences, all political parties have condemned US action. While the BJP called the US action "highly unwarranted", the CPI(M) regarded it as American Government's "discourtesy" and asked the reason of such high-handed action. The Congress, too, reacted strongly on the denial of visa to a State Chief Minister. Narendra Modi himself said, "The intention of America was only to insult and downgrade India. The ground on which the US has denied visa is baseless."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, came in Mr Modi's defence and said that the denial of visa by the US Administration lacked sensitivity and was tantamount to discourtesy. He condemned the US action, saying it was uncalled for as Mr Modi was a constitutionally elected Chief Minister. The reasons for the denial of visa to Mr Modi were unacceptable and the Government had issued a strong demarche to the US deputy chief envoy in New Delhi.

Nobody can question the US Government's right to accept or reject a visa, but the reasons given are wrong. To begin with, Mr Modi has been to the US twice after the 2002 Gujarat riots. He already had a tourist/business visa, but this time he applied for a diplomatic visa that had been duly endorsed by the Indian Government. Deputy spokesman of the State Department Adam Ereli says that the US has taken cognisance of the NHRC report on the Gujarat riots in taking this decision. "It's a matter of the US responding to NHRC finding pointing to a comprehensive failure of the Gujarat Government to control the persistent violation of human rights," he said.

As for the NHRC report, it has subsequently denied naming Mr Modi specifically in its finding. In any case, NHRC reports are not legally binding. Even if Mr Modi were to be held guilty, the American law does not debar him from securing a visa because more than 24 months have passed since the Godhra massacre and the subsequent Gujarat riots. Besides, the Gujarat Chief Minister has been neither charged nor found guilty of any severe violations of religious freedom by any court of law in India. Moreover, the Nanavati-Shah commission of enquiry is yet to submit its report.

As for human rights violation, the US Government needs to look within to find a number of cases of gross violation. The killing of tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans, and the atrocities committed in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, are there for all to see. Applying the same yardstick, how would the US feel if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was denied visa by the Indian Government for the violation of human rights and atrocities committed by the US in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Closer home, what about General Pervez Musharraf who killed thousands of innocent Indians in his so-called "freedom struggle" in Jammu & Kashmir? Does he not fall in the same category? What about the repressive Saudi regime that silences its critics through capital punishment? Has the visa of any Saudi royal family member ever been revoked? How can the US provide shelter to terrorists who have committed crime in Punjab and Kashmir?

It seems the Bush Administration, by revoking Mr Narendra Modi's visa, has made a symbolic gesture to Muslims. After all, what could Mr Modi do in a hotel convention that he wanted to address in Florida and New York? The US wanted to send a friendly message to Muslims that the US was insulting a "Hindu fundamentalist leader". This might work with a section of Indian Muslims who are happy with the US decision because their hatred for Mr Modi is more intense than their love for the nation.

The Gujarat Chief Minister is an elected representative of a State. He had won the Assembly elections with a thumping two-thirds majority. Doesn't this have any significance for the "world champion" of democracy? In the process, the US seems to have hurt "Gujarati pride". In America, the Gujaratis are a very powerful lobby. No wonder there is talk of some Gujarati organisations challenging this decision in US courts.

Mr Modi may still have the last laugh. Even if the US revokes its earlier decision and grants Mr Modi the visa, he should not go to America. He has already addressed a gathering at New York's Madison Square Garden through satellite from Gandhinagar. The US hasn't insulted Mr Modi alone, it has challenged the self-respect of the entire country and the Indians living abroad. The Gujarat Chief Minister has a knack of turning every controversy towards his advantage. Let's see if he can make capital from this one, too.

Secularists and liberals let us drop the adjective `pseudo' for the time being are besides themselves with joy at the thought that the United States has slapped Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his face, by denying him entry visa into its sacred portals. Modi, no doubt, will survive this insult as he has survived many others, but it is time for all Indians to sit back and wonder whither we are heading as a people.

The question is: have we learnt nothing from our history? Time was when Tipu Sultan was against Marathas, Marathas against the Nizam and the Nizam against everybody else. This, at the micro level. At the macro level every ruler in India was playing his own game.

The East India Company took full advantage of it, played one faction against another and in the end emerged victorious to rule the once-proud nation for almost one hundred and fifty years. Our secularists and liberals do not think like Indians. They are the successors of our old feudal lords in their hatred of each other.

There is rejoicing in our secular quarters that Modi has been slapped in his face. They do not realise that a slap on Modi's face is a slap on every Indian citizen's face and some day they may know the consequences if they care. Our intellectuals are good at bowing and scraping. Their ancestors did that to the British.

In turn they are doing it before the Americans. Modi has been tarnished as a villain who is "Nazi-inspired", a "Hindu fundamentalist" whatever that means besides being an active participant in crime against humanity, no less. A vicious article in the Indian media by one Angana Chatterji, described as Associate Professor of Anthropology at California Institute of Integral Studies is an example of the depths to which our intellectual degradation can go.

Chatterji obviously does not know the history of riots in India, of their origins and of their consequences. He (or is Angana a `she'?) is obviously not aware that there have been scores of riots in different parts of the country at different times, some more gruesome than others, all occurring under Congress-ruled states and Congress Chief Ministers, without a single honourable exception.

If one were to describe them, as anti-Modi historians have attempted to describe the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat, they would come out more blood-soaked than the killings witnessed in Gujarat in 2002. Were Angana to get a full report on how innocent Sikh men, women and children were brutally killed by Congress goondas following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, for three continuous days without interference either from the police or the Army, Angana would possibly temper her language in cursing Modi.

And Angana would be surprised to know that more Sikhs were killed during those riots than were Muslims in Gujarat. Incidentally many Hindus were also killed during police firing. The point is not that Congress in some ways is a more criminalised party than the BJP. We in India are living in times of stress but what happens in India is our business, not that of the United States of America.

Angana would have been better employed had she sought to explain U.S. behaviour down the decades in different parts of the world, how for years, the United States has supported dictators whether in Latin America or Africa without so much as an apology to liberals, how it has arranged to have unfriendly politicians killed whether it was Patrice Lumumba in Congo, Salvadore Allende in Chile or an inconvenient general in Pakistan whose usefulness to Washington had come to an end.

Human Rights in all cases were blown away with profuse abandon. What harm did the poor Vietnamese do to invite American fury for over a decade when US planes ruthlessly bombed Vietnamese homes and killed literally lakhs of Vietnamese? What sort of Human Rights was the US observing? What sort of Human Rights was the US, again, observing when first it equipped Iraqi militia with poison gas to be used against Iran? What kind of Human Rights has the US been observing in killing thousands of Iraqis in the past few months? The US claims it is defending religious freedom.

Religious freedom? Is there religious freedom in Saudi Arabia? Will Riyadh permit a Hindu temple to be set up in forget Mecca or Medina even Riyadh itself? And yet Saudi princes get royal treatment when they visit the United States.

What sort of religious freedom is there in Pakistan where scores of Hindu temples have been desecrated and where, until a couple of weeks ago, not even a crematorium was allowed to be set up? And while we are at it, may one ask whether there is any chance for a Hindu who dies in Spain or Portugal to get cremated there? A dead Hindu in these states has to have his body flown over to London for getting cremated. Cremation is not permitted in Catholic countries.

A Report on Religious Intolerance in Europe, first drawn up around 1956-57 was quickly suppressed. It must be gathering dust in the United Nations archives in New York, considering that the report was commissioned by the world body. There should be a limit to hypocrisy.

The US has falsely implicated the National Human Rights Commission (India) for damning Modi. But a top NHRC official has denied condemning Modi. The news agency UNI quotes the official as saying, that the Bush Administration has blown its observations over the 2002 riots out of proportion.

As he put it: "Our approach was mainly limited to the Best Bakery Case.... there was no indictment in general of Modi or his government". But the US Government obviously has no respect for facts just as it had no respect for facts when it charged Iraq with possessing weapons of mass destruction.

Washington lies through its teeth when it suits its purpose. It now claims that the decision to deny Modi entry visa was taken based on the Indian Government's criticism of the Gujarat Chief Minister. But why doesn't it take the same government at its word when it asks Washington to reconsider its decision?

The trouble is that the United States thinks that it can get away with anything since it is the only Super Power. Its officials had no regrets when they asked defence Minister George Fernandes to strip and remove his shoes to prove that he was not carrying any dangerous weapons on his person.

It was shameful and sickening. How would the US have reacted if Indian officials had asked US Defence Minister also to strip? And how would China have reached if its Defence Minister was subjected to such ignominy? Have any European Defence Minister been asked to to strip? Why are we taking these insults so casually?

Why can't we spit in their faces and tell them where they get off! The manner in which US soldiers have been ill-treating Iraqi and Afghan prisoners of war is shocking beyond words. Some of them are not even POWs but plain detainees. One media report says that at a CIA-funded prison north of Kabul, a detainee was stripped naked, dragged across a concrete floor, then chained in a cell and was "frozen to death".

That is how civilised Americans behave! Then there was a picture of a US woman officer compelling men to lie one above another. One presumes that this is the American concept of Human Rights. Iraqi soldiers have no Human Rights. They can be treated like dogs.

The California professor speaks of genocide. What the US under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon practised in Vietnam was genocide, pure and simple. What Pakistani Jehadis are practising in Jammu & Kashmir is again, genocide. Thousands of Kashmir Pundits have been driven out of their homes and are living in utmost degradation because of sheer terrorism practised by Pakistani terrorists supported by successive Pakistani regimes.

Are the hands of General Musharraf clean? Why is he being honoured and feted? The Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is even now supporting terrorism in India's north east and there has not been a single word of protest from Washington.

But what is it that Modi is charged with? If there was no Godhra, would there have been riots in Gujarat? What were those thousands of Muslims doing on the railway track as the two railway coaches were on fire? It is now claimed that a judge has noted that the fire was incidental and not deliberately set up.

If the fire was incidental isn't it natural for those in the coaches to get off? Would any sane person continue to remain in a coach when fire is on? The plain fact is that they were not allowed to get off by Muslim crowds who were throwing stones at the coaches.

That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It was the ruthless murder of over fifty five innocent women and children who were burnt into ashes that set the riots in Gujarat. Whether Modi will ever get his visa back is immaterial. Even if it is given to him again, he should throw it into gutters. But there is a moral to every event.

And this is that no one should ever again resort to violence, no matter what the provocation. The torching of the coaches at Godhra was a well-planned and executed event. There is enough evidence to prove it. Violence begets violence. Violence in Godhra is nothing new. The place is notorious for communal violence but the violence that followed the torching of coaches should be a warning to all concerned, whether Hindu or Muslim.

Violence does not pay. As for our secularists, the less said the better. By supporting the US government they have shown their true face. Cowards come in many colours. And they are the first ones to sell their country to a foreigner.

March 23, 2005

Below is an excerpt from latest book "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington" by Paul Sperry .

Former FBI agent John.M Cole worked with bureau’s counterintelligence division managing national programs for Afghanistan, India , Pakistan . Part of those duties required conducting what are called “risk assessments” on applicants for FBI jobs , especially foreign language specialists, to evaluate their propensity for spying on the United States , among other security risks . After 911 several personal files landed on this desk . He was the final step in their background investigation.

He looked at a file of Pakistani American who had applied for a language specialist position translating Urdu and Pasto , tongues critical to the bureau in its battle against al-quida. After tumbling through the paperwork , he felt something was missing in that file . He learnt that the applicant’s father was a retired general from Pakistan . He went ahead and ran his name (Pakistan General) through the Automated case System and came up with several hits , It turned out that this Pakistani General had at one time been the subject of an FBI investigation , an alarming piece of Information that was somehow overlooked in the preliminary backgroung check on the application .The bureau had opened a case file onn her father in the 1980’s , when he was the military attaché stationed at Pakistann’s embassy in Washington. He worked that particular target , Cole knew that the military attaches assigned there doubled as intelligence officers . And he also knew that Pakistan’s military Intelligence was in bed with Taliban , as well as Al-Quida . Infact its officers introduced Osama to Taliban leader .

Mr.Cole stumbled on another alarming piece of information that gave him great pause about the applicant.Her father , who was at the time was not a US Citizen, spent 6 months of the year in the US and other six momnths living in Pakistan . He’s got a lot of friends that are still there in Millitary intelligence , and he more than likely talks to them frequently , living there as he does six months out of the year . It was a major RED FLAG on the file , working as a translator with top secret clearance , his daughter could covertly listen to his Pakistani friends targeted in US counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations , presenting a clear conflict of intrest and loyalties .

Compounding his concerns , the results of her polygraph exam were inconclusive . . That was troubling also for an 18 year veteran of the bureau . Mr.Cole recommended rejecting her application in his risk-assessment report , delivered to the personal security specialist . But after a week he learnt that they have hired the individual , she got a TS-SCI clearance ( Top secret / Sensitive compartmented information) government’s highest security clearance .

This Pakistani Translator , bureau sources identify her as Hadia Roberts , a Pakistani Immogrant who married a State Department official . Linguists who worked with her in the Washington field office say she frequently boasted that her father was a retired general . Known as a Muslim “Zeakit” who tries to convert collegues to Islam ,, she headed the field office’s Muslim awarness program and led prayer groups . At one point , bureau insiderssay , she also lead an effort to persuad management to install separate bathroom facilities for Muslims. She was recently promoted to headquarters and the FBI has also hired her Sons to translate highly classifted materials , sources say..About 6 Months after Hadia Roberts of Pakistan was hired , the FBI’s counter intelligence division was handed a spy case involving Pakistan . Someone has leaked classified FBI radio frequencies to Islamabad .

Division opened an “unknown subject” case to try to determine who provided the information to the Pakiustani Embassy . Agents sent the information to the FBI’s engineering research facility down at Quantico to help isolate suspects .It was determined that the only employees who could have known the frequencies were agent and the translators who has access to the codes .

“Boy , wouldn’t that tbe something if it was one of the translators we hired “, one of the agents told his unamused supervisor . The leak is still under iinvestigation .

After 911 , Cole explains , there was a “big push” in Washington to hire translators to clear backlogs of untranslated materials , mainly in Arabic , that had been collected from surveillance of al-Quida operatives. The FBI took heat for missing clues to al-Quida plots buried in the chronic backlogs, he says , and the increased political pressure has lead to expedited hiring and shortcuts in the security backgroung checks . Bureau processed 30,000 applications after 911 . Language Services Section at FBI headquarters , employees more than 1200 linguists stationed across US , and the largest and most important squad is in Washington , home to foreign Embassies .

Finding qualified and trustworthy translators has been a special challenge in the war on Terrorism , since few native-born Americans speak Middle Eastern and Persian toungues fluently . After 911 Director Mueller issued a plea for translators among militant Islamic groups , such as the Council on American_Islamic Relations , the Islamic Society of North America , and the American Muslim Council , whose members typically pledge alligence to oIslam over America. Thousands responded to his plea , and many have marched into the FBI’s ranks. Mueller thanked American Muslim Council members at their 2002 convension . “This is absolutely crazy ,” says retired FBI special agent John Vincent , who sa\ys AMC should have been one of the last groups Mueller enlisted to help fight terrorism . Mueller thought AMC was the most “mainstream” Muslim group in America at that time . “ Ofcourse , they are not mainstream,” Vincent says . “Their founder , Alamoudi, has been convicted of plotting terrorism.”

FBI’s translator program plays vital role in interpreting interviews and intercepts of the al-quida network . The faster translators can clear backlogs of the untranslated material in Arabic, Urdu, Pasto , Farsi and other languages critical to counter terrorism , the faster they can uncover terrorist plots . The more translators , the bigger the dent they can make in the backlog .

But many trsnslators pose a grave threat to National security themselves . Some have had relationships with targets of counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations , raising fears that translators could tip off the terrorists about investigations to help them avoid detections and even reveal the sources and methods federal authorities use to gather intelligence about their activities .

JEWS Need not apply to fight terror

Shepardic Jews lived in arab countries like Syria and Egypt and know the language , culture and history of the region , after 911 NY FBI field officer visited Shepardic Bikur Holim Jewish community center in NY to recruit Arabic linguists to help interpret interviews and intercepts of Osama Bin Ladin Network . At the meeting , Yola Haber , who heads agency’s employment division says she agreed to help recruit Arabic-speaking jews for the bureau . Most of them applied on-line for the translator jobs . All , told , she says she referred some 60 applications, possibly more , to the FBI . They included retired linguists who had experience working for Israeli Radio in Arabic and for the Israeli army .Remarkably , not one of them was hired . “ We sent them a lot of people, and nobody made it to the finish line,” complains Shepardic Bikur Holim Director Doug Balin . “ Not one person was founf eligible for these jobs , which is outrageous” .

REASON : Heare is the answerThe people familiar with the FBI’s foreign language program says the reason the FBI snubbed the jewish applicants has more ro do with Politica then Security . They say headquarters did not want to offend arab Christian and Muslim translators , who would have to work alongside Jews . “There’s already tension between the Hebrew and Arabic desks,” says Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator in Washington. “if they hired Arab Jews to translate Arabic , there would be blood-shed . Arabs never accept it. “

“This is crazy , Imagine if during the war against Hitler, Franklin D.Roosevelt felt that having jews fight Nazis might upset the everyday German? “ Shelomo , Vice President if the foundation for the Advancement of Shepardic Studies and Culture in New York , “Unfortunately , it is through the plague of political correctness that FBI does indeed offending the Muslim community by hiring Jews”

Instead of hiring Jews fluent in Arabic to help fight Muslim terrorism in the wake of 911 , the FBI has turned to the Arab-Muslim community for help , even asking American Muslim Council and other worrisome Islamist Groups to help recruit translators for the bureau . Enlisting such potentially sympathetic groups in the war on Islamic Terror is inherently fraught and risk .

But the FBI has compounded the risk by rushing Arab and Muslim applicants through the screening process , in many cases putting them to work translating classified material before completing their background investigations and approving their classified security clearance . As a result , the manin language unit in Washington has been plagues with Loyalty and security concerns – some so serious that Congress and Department of Justices’s inspectos general have urged Mueller to espionage investigations .

10 ways to defeat the perfect enemy

1. Not in my backyardAverage citizens have power to block the development of new Saudi mosques and Islamic Schools in their neighbourhood by protesting It worked in Loudoun county , Virginia . The Saudi planned to build a new 3,500 student campus- complete with a towering minaret – in the county . But school officials scrapped the plan not long after locals warned of a “Saudi invasion” , and raised concerns about terrorism . One local pastor who objected to the Islamic School argues that the Saudis should not be given free reign to promote their religion in Ameerica when they will not even allow American Christians and Jews practice their religion in Saudi Arabia .

Citizens should also find what kind of mosque is going up in the neighbourhood, and who is backing it . I did . I noticed a large mosque under construction not far from my home in Fairfax , Virginia . So I investigated . After pulling the real estate records at the county courthouse , I discovered the trustees were from Pakistan , and even used a notary public registered in Lahore , Pakistan – a major red Flag . Pakistan m the cradle of the Taliban Movement , was the base of operations for many of the 9/11 plotters, and the country remains sanctuary for top al-quida leaders . Then I learnet that the lead trustee, Mian Muhammad Saeed, is also the imam of the Moaque , called the Islamic Center of Northern Virgina. It turned out that Saeed was the spiritual adiser to the Pakistani terrorist who last decade fatally gunned down 2 CIA employees and wounded 3 others outside the agency’s headquarters in nearby Langley , Virginia . After his recent execution , the Pakistani community hailed him as a martyr . Saeed is a hard-line Pakistani cleric . This is the information the public should be aware of , especially the Christian church and Jewish school that will be the mosque’s neighbours

Residents have the right to petition local officials who approve construction permits for such hard-line mosques . Neighbours also have right to tip off the FBI to any suspicious activity at such mosques.

Below is an excerpt from latest book "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington" by Paul Sperry .

The Fifth Column

1. After US military operations in Afghanistan , President praised the estimated 10 to 20,000 muslims servinv in US armed forces . Shockingly , a growing number have put their religion before their duty , and several have sold out their country . Some have infiltrated the military in order to undermine it Others have even killed , or tried to kil, their fellow soldiers .

2. What follows are the disturbing portraits of some of the traitors , and the sccused traitors , who make up what may be the tip of an Islamist fifth column operating within the ranks of the US Military – which is too blinded by political correctness to see the threat .

3. PORTRAITS : a) Sg Hasan Akbar : ( lobbed 3 granades into tents housing commanding officers at military camp in Kuwait 2003, killed 2 of them and wounded 15. “ You guys are coming into our countries , and you are going to rape our women and kill our children” , he was overheard by the soldier who survived the attack as saying . . Clearly , his loyalties lay with ummah , or world brotherhood of the muslims and not America . Akbar , studied Islam at a Saudi funded mosque , in Los angeles, awaits trial on murder charge .

AMERICAN MUSLIM ARMED FORCES & VETERANS AFFAIRS COUNCIL :

The group is a spinoff of the American Muslim Council , Whos founder , Abdurahman alamoudi , helped place the first Muslim chaplain in 1993 . In fact , the criminal alamoudi , created the whole Muslim chaplain corps for the Pentagon , which now includes as many as hundred Islamic lay ministers in addition to fulltime chaplains . One serving inside the pentagon building as its Muslim lay leader is an American Muslim Council board member .

Working in concert with the Saudis during the gulf war , Alamoudi first set up an organization called the Muslim Military Members to organize Saudi piligrimages for all the new converts . That was in 1991 . Later the year , then President Bush encouraged religioous tolerance by sending Alamoudi’s organization a supportive message at the conclusion of its first hajj to Mecca . At alamoudi’s request , the Bush administration also granted soldiers permission to watch Saudi television for religious programming and counseling , at the same time , it began distributing pork-free meals for Muslim GI’s . Alamoudi is now in prision serving a 23 years sentence for plotting terrorist acts . Recent IRS tax records I ( Paul Sperry) obtained shows Veterans affairs council is funded in part by the US branch of the Saudi based International Islamic relief Organization – one of the Bin laden’s favourite charities .The president of the branch , Mohamed S. Omeish , lists his address as 3606 Forest Drive in Alexandria , Virginia . – the same address as Alamoudi’s office . alamoudi’s wealthy brother live in Saudi and have also helped fund his organizations .

Several Gitmo detainees granted Alamoudi power of attorney over their affairs , raising even concern among federal investigators about his connections to terrorists . Some speculate he may have set up the chaplains program as a spy service for al-Quida. Alamoudi has made numerous trips to Saudi , Egypt and Syria .

INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC AND ARABIC SCIENCES IN AMERICA

The Saudi – based and Saudi funded center trains imams to serve in American mosques and clerics to serve in the American military . Alamoudi worked with the Saudis to set up its military training program .

But last year , federal agents raided the institute’s office in Northern Virginia , virtually shutting it down . Earlier in the year , 16 saudi diplomats formally affiliated with the institute had their passports revoked for abusing their diplomatic credentials by secretly propagating anti-western hate . Essentially , they were engaged in subversive activities under the auspices of the Saudi Embassy . Prince Bandar , the Saudi ambassador to Washington , is the chairman of the institutes board of directors . In fact , he has presided over graduation ceremonies at the institute for dozens of Muslim-American soldiers . All told , the institute has helped train as many as hundred people as Islamic religious advisers for Muslim American troops .

The Institute as served as an official Saudi distribution center for Wahhabi propaganda and includes a large prayer hall . It served as meeting place for the “Virginia Jihad Network”—the froup of young Muslim men who were convicted in a conspiracy to wage holy war against American allies and troops abroad .Abdur-Raheem, the former Army sergeant, was one of the Jihadists . The institute featured a number of hardcore Wahhabi lecturers , including the 9/11 imam Anwar Aulaqi .

The Pentagon continued to post job notices for muslim clerics at the institute after 9/11 , including one seen there as late as October 2003 . But it now says it no longer uses the school as a recruiting ground for its Muslim chaplains program .

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ISLAMIC SOCIAL SCIENCES

Part of the Saudi funded SAFA group, the school was raided after 9/11 by federal authorities as a suspected terror-financing front . It is located in the nondescript building in an office at the end of sa small airport runway in the middle of Northern Virginia horse country . . A State accrediting agency , the Virginia Council on Higher Edication , did not think much of its curriculum when it evaluated it several years ago in response to a request by its board to certify it as a legitimate masters program .

Infact the , the council official who reviewed GSISS , as it is now known , was more impressive by the board’s ties to Islamic extremism . “I looked into the backgrounds of the directors , and it was all shocking information ,” says Ken Masugi , who in 1999 conducted a preliminary review for the state accrediting body .

GSISS was run by Taha Jaber al-Alwani , a Stocky Muslim man who is a key figure in the SAFA group scandal , as well as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terrorism case . Investigators say the two men share the same Jihadist objectives . In a leter to al-arian citing a donation to his Islamic Jihad front groups, al-Alwani said , “Islam is an Ideological and cultural concordance with the samew objectives , and all of your institutions are considered by us as ours” .

Most of the Millitary’s muslim chaplains were trained at GSISS . Yee was trained there .

ISLAMIC SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA

This is another Saudi-tied group under Fbi investigation for terrorism ties , yet one that still has approval of the Pentagon . Even more astounding ;its past president , Muzammil Siddidi , opposes Muslims serving in the US Military and defending America while it remains a non-Muslim nation . “Islam will not allow a Muslim to be drafted by non-Mislims to defend conceps, ideologies, and Values of other than those Islam,” asserts Siddiqi , who still serves as an ISNA’s board member . “A Muslim shall defend non-Muslim land NOT.” .

Given his religious ruling , you really have to wonder what the chaplains ISNA refer to the Pentagon are counseling Muslim soldiers to do – Or not to do –in performing their duties to their country .

Nonetheless , in the middle of the Yee scandal last year , the ever-accommodating pentagon asked ISNA how it could be even more accommodating .

Chief chaplains for the nacy , army, and Airforce as well as executive director of the Chaplaincy Board of the Armed Forces , met with a top ISNA official for a politically correct powwow . The official , Louay safi , also met with the Pentagon chaplain , During their meeting , Deputy Chief Chaplain rare Adm, Robert Brut stressed the need “ to educate the military on the Islamic faith and Muslim cultures” to combat acts by military personnel, reflecting a lack of clear understanding of Islam and Muslims .” . To help increase troops’ sensitivity towards Islam , he and other chief chaplains agreed to distribute information on Islam and Muslims provided by ISNA . Brut informed Safi that the Navy was pleased with the track record of the chaplains endorsed by ISNA , according to the group’s account , and is interested in hiring more Muslim chaplains. Swell.”

It is hard to believe that most of these groups are still credentialed to certify Muslim chaplains for the Aemed forces . But here is the really maddning part, the Pentagon is not directly investigating its Other Muslim chaplains in the wake of the Yee scandal . “ There are all good chaplains who have represented their faith and other faith well,: says army spokeswoman Martha Rudd.

The Pentagon has effectively swept the problem under the rug . Infiltration ? What Infiltration ?

But the problem is evenm more worse than infiltration of the armed forces by Islamic terrorists and sympathizers . The enemy’s penetration of the military goes even deeper,, to the heart of Homeland security – the nation’s

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